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Join Date

Jul 2009

Posts

825

Why "Spang-A-Lang?"

Why is the ride cymbal pattern in jazz mostly 1 2 and 3 4 and 1? I don't understand why that was used in that way (I LOVE it, but I'm curious). I heard guys doing it on hi-hat and others started doing it on the ride. So, any idea what caused that particular rhythm and not just 1, 2, 3, 4?

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Join Date

Mar 2010

Location

Rouyn-Noranda, PQ, Canada

Posts

349

Re: Why "Spang-A-Lang?"

Originally Posted by ZackPomerleau

Why is the ride cymbal pattern in jazz mostly 1 2 and 3 4 and 1? I don't understand why that was used in that way (I LOVE it, but I'm curious). I heard guys doing it on hi-hat and others started doing it on the ride. So, any idea what caused that particular rhythm and not just 1, 2, 3, 4?

Just try playing 4 on the floor, hi-hat with foot on the 2 & 4 and swing your ride cymbal as 1 "& 2", 3 "& 4". You'll hear how the feel of the beat change...

When playing with brushes on the snare drum surface, your right hand still accent on the 2 & 4 and swing the last two notes of the triplet while the left hand keep and steady sweeping motion.